Need help break 19-20 second barrier [3x3]

[Ultimate Cuber]

Please help I'm sub 25 right now and I have been cubing for 7 months. Is this good? I'm 12. I'm kinda stuck at sub 25 and I ask you what should I improve? I guess that look-ahead on F2L. I actually only know 13 PLLs and about 20 OLLs. What do you think?

Your first priority should definitely be to learn full PLL. Learn 1-2 algs a day and you'll have it learned in a week or two. After you finish that I'd suggest continuing to learn full OLL. The OLLs are easier to learn than the PLLs and you should know then all within a month or so if you really focus and work hard to learn them (I once memorized 6 OLLs in one day).

I'm not sure what you should do after learning full OLL and PLL because I'm not sure what your F2L or Cross is.

Hello,
I have been stuck at the 19-20 second barrier for a while now (5 months) and I was just wondering if anyone could give me tips on what and how I should improve.
Break down
CFOP
Cross: 4.3
F2L: 8.3
OLL: 3.6
PLL: 3
19.2
Thanks I would appreciate help and your break downs. In the end I would like to have a 15 second avg.

Cross: Like one guy said your cross is definitely the easiest place to improve on. The first thing I'd suggest you do is do some FMC cross solves. Practice this until you can get the move count below 8 moves for the majority of solves. 8 or 9 moves isn't too horibly bad but any cross solve with 10+ moves is bad. With a good but of practice you'll start intuitively seeing how to solve the cross in fewer moves. This will allow you to not only have an easier cross solve but also allow you to plan the entire solution for the cross during inspection which really speeds you up (I am able to plan the cross and first pair more than 50% of the time). All of this eliminates a lot of inspection time during the actual solve which really slows you down.

F2L: Your F2L is pretty good and close to mine so I really don't have much to say here.

LL: Your PLL isn't too bad but the OLL was a bit slow. Just drill algs, do time attacks, etc. which is pretty much all you can do for the step.

The last thing I have to say that helped me break the sub 20 barrier and start getting 16s and 17 on average is to do example solves to yourself. What I mean is to pretend like you're making a "3x3 walkthrough solves" video. This is basically the same idea as going slow and looking ahead but for me it's funner to pretend giving example solves lol. If you do this you'll eventually find yourself solving much more efficiently and having a much better look ahead. You'll also start being able to do this during speed solves which eventually the goal.

 

[Soren333]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HGdsVySMt0

What is AUF?

 

[Lazy Einstein]

What is AUF?

Adjust up face

 

[ahmfast1]

3 steps to get faster

1)open qqtimer.net
2)scramble your cube
3)solve your cube

repeat number 2 and 3 over 991241249184 times

 

[kunparekh18]

3 steps to get faster

1)open qqtimer.net
2)scramble your cube
3)solve your cube

repeat number 2 and 3 over 991241249184 times

Step 1 isn't required

 

[CriticalCubing]

Basically learn some F2L tricky cases or make up your own and get your F2L down to 8 sec. Cross + F2l = 10-12 sec. OLL 3 sec and PLL 3 sec. You are done
And for looking ahead, instead of looking at a piece a time, try looking for a pair. You see the corner piece, keep in mind where it is going and find the edge piece and solve it. See the cube as a whole and not as pieces. Might try a metrenome but I didnt use it

 

[Furry]

Have you learned full PLL and OLL? Those are key factors to reaching way below sub 20. Like many have said above me, cross is the place that needs the most work for you. Try not to put pieces directly in their proper location when not necessary, try to put them in the correct POSITION relative to the other cross pieces. Try and get this around 2 seconds before moving on to another working area.

P.S. Try doing cross BLD. It can give better fluidity and lookahead to your entire solve

 

[PJKCuber]

I need huge help on solving my Cross. I am CN. I know white cross people solve the cross by memorizing the color scheme? Do I have to memo 6 color schemes then? Please help?
I also want to know how to get faster at F2L look ahead. I currently sub 15 Cross + F2L. I want to sub 10 it.

 

[Nilsibert]

I need huge help on solving my Cross. I am CN. I know white cross people solve the cross by memorizing the color scheme? Do I have to memo 6 color schemes then? Please help?
I also want to know how to get faster at F2L look ahead. I currently sub 15 Cross + F2L. I want to sub 10 it.

How would you ever become fast at planing and executing a cross if you didn't have the color scheme memorized?

Also, practice, especially without timing yourself.

 

[Dane man]

I need huge help on solving my Cross. I am CN. I know white cross people solve the cross by memorizing the color scheme? Do I have to memo 6 color schemes then? Please help?
I also want to know how to get faster at F2L look ahead. I currently sub 15 Cross + F2L. I want to sub 10 it.

Wait, you get sub-30 times without having memorized the color scheme? How on earth do you plan the cross? Or do F2L? Or Permute? If color scheme takes a decent part of your thinking process, then that might be slowin' you down. Understanding the color scheme should be an automatic and instantaneous process. You shouldn't have to think for a split second "which color is that side?" or "where does this piece go?", you should just look and know.

Other than that. It looks like you've got it pretty good. So, I dunno what else you need other than practice. I do have a few tips here though.

 

[PJKCuber]

Wait, you get sub-30 times without having memorized the color scheme? How on earth do you plan the cross? Or do F2L? Or Permute? If color scheme takes a decent part of your thinking process, then that might be slowin' you down. Understanding the color scheme should be an automatic and instantaneous process. You shouldn't have to think for a split second "which color is that side?" or "where does this piece go?", you should just look and know.

Other than that. It looks like you've got it pretty good. So, I dunno what else you need other than practice. I do have a few tips here though.

I average 24 seconds. Since I am CN, I pretty much do a cross on bottom by inserting each edge in its correct position(Like the beginner's cross). I think you misunderstood what I meant by color scheme. I can do the fancy fast cross only on white and yellow because those are the 2 colors I start on on 4x4 hence I memorized the y axis color scheme. I mean y axis color scheme. I have no problem in F2L recognition and look ahead because I am CN. It's just the cross.

 

[CriticalCubing]

I average 24 seconds. Since I am CN, I pretty much do a cross on bottom by inserting each edge in its correct position(Like the beginner's cross). I think you misunderstood what I meant by color scheme. I can do the fancy fast cross only on white and yellow because those are the 2 colors I start on on 4x4 hence I memorized the y axis color scheme. I mean y axis color scheme. I have no problem in F2L recognition and look ahead because I am CN. It's just the cross.

Memorise the colour scheme on all sides for cross then if you dont have problems in f2l!

 

[hkpeople]

well i kinda got from 23 to 15 avg by just working on F2L XD
as the other people have said, the cross and F2L are the MOST important parts of your solve.
i average around 9-10 seconds for cross and F2L and around 3-6 seconds LL (I'm too lazy to learn the G perms and N perms hence the 6 second LLs)
so yeah just work on solving the cross on the bottom side and plan all your cross moves during inspection.
for F2L just spam solving F2L cases until you know what moves to make for every single F2L case, then you can start to lookahead which will improve your times by a lot.

 

[ChaozCubing]

Please help I'm sub 25 right now and I have been cubing for 7 months. Is this good? I'm 12. I'm kinda stuck at sub 25 and I ask you what should I improve? I guess that look-ahead on F2L. I actually only know 13 PLLs and about 20 OLLs. What do you think?

only 7 months? For how long you've been cubing, that's really good! Ive been SPEEDcubing for about a year (been able to solve it for 2 years) and I'm practically sub 25.